Why enabling GTA Online crossplay could boost its popularity tenfold

GTA Online players have been demanding crossplay features in the game for a long time. However, Rockstar Games hasn't taken the plunge to enable cross-platform play for any of its games.

Cross-platform play has become quite common in the present age, and many video games utilize this feature. Games like Minecraft and War Thunder are good examples of how crossplay boosts a game's popularity.

In the long run, GTA Online could benefit from cross-platform play as it serves to consolidate the game's split player base. This article discusses the benefits of this feature and whether Rockstar would implement it.

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GTA Online: Why enabling crossplay will make the game more popular

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What are the benefits of crossplay?

Most popular multiplayer games today have at least some aspect of crossplay enabled. Crossplay is a technical feature in a game that allows players on different platforms to play together. For example, an Xbox One player can play the same game with their friend who plays on the PS4.

However, crossplay functionality is not limited to this feature only. Cross-saving is another aspect of it, through which players can use their save files on different platforms. A simple cloud-saving facility ensures that players won't have their progress reset when switching between consoles.

Crossplay also results in more populated lobbies. This reduces load times as well since finding a session in GTA Online will be much easier. It will also lead to a stronger player community that includes players from all platforms.

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Will GTA Online ever receive crossplay?

The original version of GTA 5 was made specifically for the PS3 and Xbox 360. It was later ported over to the PS4, Xbox One, and Windows PCs. The original version was built with the hardware limitations of the older consoles in mind and was quite hamstrung when it came to GTA Online. The second iteration of GTA 5, called the Enhanced Edition, was much more refined and had several new features like bigger lobbies and more DLCs.

This disparity between the game versions may be one of the reasons why crossplay was not introduced. However, Rockstar has already discontinued content updates for older editions and will shut down its servers this year.

Enabling crossplay on the Enhanced Edition copies is a much more viable solution if Rockstar opts to do so. However, considering the revenue Rockstar Games brings in from GTA Online without crossplay and the financial investment it would take to set up crossplay infrastructure, it is more likely that the developers will hold off until GTA 6 before introducing the feature.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the opinions of its author.